The world is getting more and more digital with each passing day and more so during the pandemic where people relied on digital connections for almost every activity, from ordering essential supplies to working remotely.  With more and more sensitive data exchanged over the internet, there is a rise in data breaches, cybercrimes, and security-related issues.  

Let’s take a look at some of the Cybercrime statistics for the year 2020

• According to a report by RiskBased security search, 36 billion records were exposed in the first three quarters of 2020. 

• According to a Deep Instinct study, 2020 saw the rise of malware by 358 percent, ransomware by 435 percent, and malicious activity increased by 653 percent compared to 2019. 

• Due to these cybercrimes, organizations lose 2.9 dollars every minute, and large businesses lose 29 dollars per minute (RiskIQ Research).

The only way to avoid the impending colossal damage caused by data breaches is to implement an effective authentication system!

What is an authentication system?

We all use passwords to access everything from work databases to bank accounts, emails, and applications; the passwords you create must be something only you know and others find difficult to guess. However, this is not the case in practice.  With so many different accounts and multiple passwords to remember, we fall off the bandwagon and stick to simple passwords, which are generally a hacker’s dream.

With weak passwords, the hackers can easily break into your office systems and your personal accounts and easily change sensitive information or hold this information ransom to extort money.  To avoid such blunders, an authentication system was developed. It is nothing but an additional layer of security along with your password that aids in determining the authenticity of the user attempting to access an online account.

Generally, three authentication factors are used as evidence to prove that the user is exactly who they claim to be, they are:

 The knowledge factor represents something that you know, such as password, PIN, secret questions, etc.

The possession factor represents something that you have, such as a smartphone, a credit card, or a hardware token.

The inherence factor represents something you are, such as an iris scan, fingerprint, or voiceprint.

What are Two-factor authentication and Multi-factor authentication systems?

Two-factor authentication collects two authentication factors as evidence to prove the authenticity of the user, and it is a subset of multi-factor authentication.

Multi-factor authentication collects more than two factors of authentication as evidence to prove the authenticity of the user.

Why are Two-factor authentication and Multi-factor authentication important for all of your secure data in your organization?
A single knowledge authentication factor such as passwords can provide very low security to office productivity suites and applications such as Office 365, Zoom, Skype, other collaboration and work tools online.  A prolific attack that is taking place in recent times is the business email compromise attack where the user credentials are hacked from business applications that use single-factor authentication. One such attack in the year 2018 stole over 12 billion dollars from businesses in a span of five years.

As always, if we can help with increasing your security, please reach out.